


then we slide (into the arms of someone else)

by elwinds



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Light Angst, Post-Canon (Julian's upright ending), Short One Shot, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:40:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21653134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elwinds/pseuds/elwinds
Summary: She was unabashedly smitten. She was deeply and undoubtably in love. But Asra knew it was no longer with him.
Relationships: Apprentice/Julian Devorak, Julian Devorak/Original Female Character(s), Past Apprentice/Asra (The Arcana) - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 48





	then we slide (into the arms of someone else)

_All that he ever truly wanted was for her to be happy._

In the beginning, there had been fleeting moments when he would wonder if he had done the just thing in bringing her back. Those nights when she would clutch her temples and break down into tears as she tried to recall something — _anything_ — from before the moment she had opened her eyes to be greeted by his unfamiliar face always left a feeling of guilt to settle in the pit of his stomach. She hadn’t _asked_ for resurrection. _He_ had made the decision for her due to his inability to move forward without her.

Despite the push and pull of his own morality, however, Asra could take solace in the fact that he knew that she would have done the same thing had she been in his position. The guilt of not being there when she had fallen ill may have been suffocating in the worst of times, but there had always been a piece of him that knew she had loved him until the day she took her dying breath.

Despite all of this, he still treated her like she was the sun: brilliant and dazzling enough to pull him into her orbit, but needing to be admired from a distance. She carried no memories of their declarations of love, or long nights spent in each other’s arms...savoring the bliss they had found with one another. He may have remembered her as the love of his life, but — to her — he was nothing more than a mentor.

Her _master_. Even just the thought of the given title never failed to summon a bout of discomfort. It carried such an air of superiority, though there was nothing about her that he would ever consider to be below him.

Time continued to move forward. He could feel her growing increasingly more frustrated and impatient with each vague answer he gave to her questions, and each mysterious trip he would disappear to for days at a time with no valid explanation. _In due time_ , he had to remind himself. In due time he would be able to tell her everything she needed to know, and they would be able to begin again.

But perhaps, he considered, that time had run out somewhere along the way.

He knew it from the moment he first saw the way that she looked at Julian. The way her eyes practically glimmered in admiration when she would tilt her chin to watch him as he rambled on with his bombastic stories was all too familiar. It was the same way she had looked at him many moons ago when she would wake up next to him in the morning, or when she would catch him slipping Faust a piece of pumpkin loaf.

She was unabashedly smitten. She was deeply and undoubtably in love. But Asra knew it was no longer with him.

Now it was Julian’s presence that made her days a little brighter. It was his arms that she wanted to rush into after times of trouble, and his lips that she wanted to kiss every night before drifting into a dreamless sleep. He was now everything that Asra had once been to her.

He couldn’t bring himself to feel rejected or scorned, however. It simply wasn’t in his nature. Despite the subconscious ache that still occasionally manifested in his chest when he would see her wrap her arms around Julian and hold herself as close to him as humanly possible…breathe him in as if he was the only person in the world…Asra couldn't help but allow a weak smile to tug at the corners of his lips.

Her happiness and well-being was all he had wished for when giving her a second chance at life. He wanted nothing more than for her to laugh again…and to smile…and to love. He wanted her to _live_. 

And she _was_ living. Every time she would giggle when Julian would take her hands and twirl her into an impromptu tango…every time she would lean a tired head against his shoulder and dramatically stifle yawns until he would wrap an arm around her and ruffle his fingers through her hair…she was living.

Maybe she was happy in the arms of someone else, but she _was_ happy.

And _all that he ever truly wanted was for her to be happy_.

**Author's Note:**

> t'was just a little something my 1am brain decided was getting written tonight. this fandom has so many incredibly talented writers that it's always a little intimidating to post my own stuff, but i hope you enjoy my late night musings anyhow ! title was taken from the song 'slide' by james bay :)


End file.
